Tourism Award Winner for 2020 Announced

Today, during City Council meeting, the 2020 Tourism Award (The Legend Award) was presented to Paul Pope of Pope Productions.

The Legend Award is the City’s pinnacle award for contribution to the enhancement of tourism in St. John’s

“We are pleased to present the 2020 Legend Award to Mr. Paul Pope, who is a community leader in film, television and arts,” said Mayor Danny Breen. “Thank you for your commitment to the City of St. John’s and for putting our City on the map. The film industry is an important part of our local economy; it creates jobs, promotes local business, and draws international attention to our City, region, and province.”

Typically, the City would host Tourism Awards presentation in several categories. However, due to significant challenges and impacts faced by the tourism industry in 2020, the City of St. John’s modified the presentation to present only the Legend award

Paul Pope of Pope Productions

Paul Pope is a leader in the film and television industry, and arts community, of St. John's for over forty years. His productions have created hundreds of jobs and has leveraged tens of millions of dollars of outside investment into our local economy. His current television series, Hudson and Rex, is entering season four of production locally in June. The show is a hit for Canada and international audiences and brings unmeasurable promotion of our city.

Paul is a founding member of NIFCO, the Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Co-operative and remains on the board today. Paul has been an executive board member of the LSPU Hall and was a founder and board member of Atlantic Studios Cooperative, which owns and rents the film production equipment package locally.

Paul has served on the boards of the national Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and of the Canada Media Fund (CMF). He has served on countless juries, advisory groups, and panels in the arts. Throughout, he has been a tireless advocate for Newfoundland and Labrador.